Parents? Aren't you assuming now that they can provide expert coaching that is now necessary at a very young age?

As the tennis world expands, coaches say, top-level instruction at an early age becomes more important. This doesn’t surprise Dr. K. Anders Ericsson, a psychology professor at Florida State University who studies how people acquire expertise. After years of research on elite athletes and musicians, Ericsson has found that over time, experts generally need more practice and better training. Take chess, which Ericsson has examined with the help of computers that compare today’s best players to past champions.

A Canadian 10-year-old. Problems around here: cold weather, paucity of completion and players. A kid needs to play outside on clay more than 4 months a year.

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Go to youtube get a hold of a screen name "Tennisdad" if your for real he will be more then happy to help you in the right direction of building your player , he works with his son and has a lot of knowledge on a good road you can take .

Let's say you have a kid who's showing world-class potential. Where would you send him, to what academy, and at what age?

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Barcelona Total Tennis is pretty good..just remember that it takes more than coaching to make a player. Parents play a HUGE role in the way the child relates to the sport. Are you planning on being there with your child or will he just be boarded at the program? If he goes to a place where he doesn't speak the language, he may struggle to fit in and become depressed. Academies are places where both positive and negative habits can be picked up, so that's another thing to consider. Not sure if there is an answer...maybe train in an academy for 2 weeks; home for 4; and so on. As he becomes more accustomed to being away, change the system so that he can be away more.

Where in Canada? If East look into academies on the East Coast of US. Carolinas, DC even has a good one. On the West Coast California would have options for you. Or does it have to be Europe? In US if you find the right coach, language will be the same, most French Canadians speak English well, if that is your case? Supposedly France has the best juniors right now and teaches best technique, that was mentioned here before.

If it were my child then either Sanchez-Casal (as I know Emilio) or Equelite.

A-SC because Emilio and co have a proven track record in producing players who have made college level and above and you have access to some incredible coaches like Pato, Dani Sorribas and Emilio and Sergio.

Equelite because Antonio is one of the few coaches I know of who have worked with a player from literally day one to the tour and it's a bit smaller than some so the attention is more personal.

I have spent time at Sanchez-casal myself travelling from Australia to get hands on experience. The academy and the drills are really high quality and of course there is a vast array of hitting partners that can accommodate any level of player through their development. Somewhere else I would also be inclined to look these days is prosejtov ( spelling) in the Czech Republic as they seem to be producing a lot of top players, men and women.

Let's say you have a kid who's showing world-class potential. Where would you send him, to what academy, and at what age?

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I researched almost all academies and asked many people (players and parents, coaches) about their opinion. My answer: there is NO the best academy in the world. You need to look for a good coaches for your kid and do not buy a brand. It is not a car market.

Murray was defs at Sanchez-casal. But just going there does not guarantee anything 250 or more students there trying to be Murray or kuznetsova when they will probably produce 1 or 2 every few years. It's a hard road.

Let's say you have a kid who's showing world-class potential. Where would you send him, to what academy, and at what age?

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I would keep him home for a while... send him to a soccer camp,do some martial arts training,go to a fitness coach,have him swim all the time... all of these things he won't get from a ''tennis academy'' ...